Pre-moistened towelette dispenser

ABSTRACT

The pre-moistened towelette dispenser of the present invention includes a substantially sealed housing to retain moisture within the housing. A roll of pre-moistened, perforated towelettes wound about a cylindrical core is supported within the housing on an axle to allow rotation of the roll of towelettes about the axle to dispense towelettes from the roll. A nipple located in the housing provides a restricted point opening that allows towelettes to exit the housing. The nipple is preferably located in the bottom of the housing to dispense towelettes from the bottom of the housing. An adjustable roll tension system is also provided within the housing. The roll tension system preferably includes a roller that is in contact with and biased against an end cap attached to the cylindrical core at one end of the roll of towelettes. The roll tension system provides resistance to the rotation of the roll of towelettes. The roll tension system is also preferably adjustable so that the dispenser may be adjusted and adapted to accommodate perforated towelettes with different perforation characteristics and tear resistances.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the field of hygienic paperproduct dispensers and more particularly to a dispenser for housing anddispensing pre-moistened, wet towelettes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Commercial, high volume dry paper dispensers are well known. Theseubiquitous dispensers are commonly found in public restrooms andtypically dispense dry paper from a roll for the purpose of drying one'shands after they have been washed. Pre-moistened, wet towelettes,however, are often desirable for many applications.

For example, pre-moistened towelettes are preferable for cleaninginfants when a diaper is changed. Pre-moistened towelettes are alsouseful for cleaning hard surfaces because a cleaning solution may besaturated in the towelette itself rather than separately stored in abottle or other dispenser.

Pre-moistened towelettes may also be provided for the washing of handsand cleaning of surfaces in locations where water and a wash basin arenot available. Towelettes may be pre-moistened with a disinfectant,germicidal solution to specifically kill germs and bacteria. Suchpre-moistened towelettes provide a significant cleaning and publichealth advantage over dry paper towelettes moistened with tap water. Byproviding pre-moistened, disinfectant towelettes in public areas,improved sanitary conditions and better public hygiene may be achieved.

For example, investigations have revealed disturbing evidence thatsupermarket shopping carts are typically contaminated with harmfulbacteria. In a typical day, a shopping cart may be exposed to drippingsfrom dairy products and meat as well as human bodily fluids includingsaliva, mucus, blood and even feces. Because small children often ridein these carts and will come in contact with any previous contamination,this contamination is a significant public health concern. However,because shopping carts are typically stored and picked up in areas wherethere is no running water or cleaning solutions, shoppers rarely havethe opportunity to clean a shopping cart before use.

If a dispenser of pre-moistened towelettes could be convenientlyprovided where shopping carts are stored and picked up, and otherlocations such as public parks, playgrounds, public transportation andoutdoor facilities, public health and hygiene could be improved.

There are many obstacles, however, to the use of pre-moistened towelettedispensers. First, the pre-moistened towelettes must be stored andmaintained in a moist condition over a long period of time, oftenseveral weeks or months. To retain moisture, the housing of thedispenser must preferably be sealed to retain moisture. The housing mustalso of course provide an opening to allow for the moist towelettes toexit the dispenser. This opening must allow for the moist towelettes tobe dispensed without allowing the moisture in the towelettes inside thehousing to appreciably evaporate through the opening.

In addition, the housing preferably allows for a moist towelette to begrasped and pulled from the housing. Housings that dispense towels witha hand crank or pull lever are undesirable because a person seeking atowelette must touch the crank or lever. Even though a person may beabout to wash his or her hands with the moist towelette, the personoften does not want to touch the dispenser itself because of unknowncontamination on the dispenser. Thus, a dispenser that allows a moisttowelette to be directly grasped and pulled from the housing isdesirable.

To avoid waste, a moist towelette dispenser will preferably dispenseonly one towelette at a time. Although a cutting edge or blade may beprovided for cutting or tearing a towelette at an appropriate pointafter it is pulled from the dispenser, such an arrangement allows eachuser to determine the length of towelette desired. Many individuals,however, will carelessly take a greater length of towelette than isactually needed, leading to waste of the product. To deter such waste, aroll of perforated towelettes may be provided so that individuals areprompted to take only one towelette. Although an individual may takemultiple towelettes, such an action must be intended and purposefulrather than the result of careless use of the dispenser. Thus, a roll ofperforated towelettes is preferably provided to deter wasteful andcareless use of excessive product.

Additional design challenges are presented, however, when usingperforated towelettes. When a towelette is pulled from the dispenser andripped off at the perforation, the next towelette must be left to extendfrom the dispenser a sufficient distance so that it may be subsequentlypulled and ripped off by the next person that needs a towelette. Thisrequirement necessitates that the dispenser allow for a towelette to beeasily pulled from the dispenser but, at the same time, generatesufficient resistance at the precise moment that the towel should beripped off so that the next towelette is left extending from thedispenser.

Many pre-moistened towelette dispenser designs have been proposed thatattempt to achieve the goals and address the challenges noted above. InU.S. Pat. No. 6,098,836 issued to Gottselig, for example, a“substantially” sealed housing is provided to limit evaporation of themoisture from the inside of the housing. This design, however, providesa slotted opening for dispensing the moist towelettes from the housingthat must be taped closed during storage to prevent evaporation andequipped with a sealing blade to prevent evaporation during use.

Complex machines for dispensing pre-moistened towelettes have beendeveloped including those machines disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,424issued to Helfer-Grand and U.S. Pat. No. 6,431,111 issued to Zhang.These machines, although apparently suitable for their advancedpurposes, are overly complex and include motors, controls, sensors andother electronic components. Thus, these machines do not provide asimple and economical solution to the need for the widespread publicavailability of wet towelette dispensers and have not found widespreadacceptance in public areas. Many other complex wet towelette dispensers,including those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,659,391, 6,702,225,6,682,013, 6,705,565, 6,702,227, 6,659,391 to name a few, have also beenproposed that utilize many advanced parts and components to achievetheir intended function. These dispensers, however, also fail to providea dispenser as simple to operate and economical to manufacture as theinvention disclosed herein.

Many prior art dispensers are also designed to dispense a single type ofpaper product with predetermined physical properties and set dimensions.These dispensers are not easily adaptable for dispensing different paperproducts, such as towelettes of a different width or with differentperforation characteristics and tear resistance. A dispenser ispreferably adaptable so that it can be easily modified and used todispense as many different pre-moistened paper products as possible.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide apre-moistened, wet wipe dispenser that is simple to operate andeconomical to manufacture.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a wet wipedispenser that retains moistures inside the housing of the dispenser sothat the pre-moistened towelettes may be stored and used for an extendedperiod of time.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a wet wipedispenser that allows moist towelettes to be grasped and pulled from thedispenser without the need to touch a handle or crack when using thedispenser.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide a wet wipedispenser that dispenses a predetermined length of towelette from aperforated roll to deter waste and careless use of excessive product.

Finally, an object of the present invention is to provide a wet wipedispenser that may be easily used with different brands of towelettesand towelettes of different widths and with different perforationcharacteristics and tear resistance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides an inexpensive wet wipe dispenser that issimple to load and use. The hinged housing opens to provide easy accessfor inserting or removing a roll of pre-moistened, perforatedtowelettes. The pre-moistened towelettes are wound about a plastic corewith an axle inserted through the core. The ends of the woundpre-moistened towelettes are covered by large end caps that preventmoisture from evaporating from the edges of the wound towelettes. Theaxle is inserted into axle supports attached to either side of thehousing. The axle supports allow the axle, core and roll of towelettesto easily roll within the housing so that towelettes may be removed fromthe roll.

After inserting the axle in the axle supports, the leading edge of thetowelettes is pushed through a rubber nipple at the bottom of thehousing so that the first towelette extends from the bottom of thehousing. The housing may then be closed and locked with a lockingmechanism at the top of the housing. The housing includes rubber andfoam seals that seal moisture within the housing when the housing isclosed. The rubber nipple at the bottom of the housing allows thetowelettes to exit the housing but also effectively seals the housing tolimit the moisture that may evaporate from the housing.

With the first towelette extending from the bottom of the housing, asingle perforated towelette to be pulled from beneath dispenser andripped from the roll. Inside the housing, a unique roll tension systemgenerates resistance against one of the end caps, which in turnsprovides the resistance that allows the perforated towelettes to be tornfrom the roll. This resistance may be modified by the owner of thedispenser to accommodate towelettes with different perforationcharacteristics and tear resistance.

These and other advantages will become apparent as this specification isread in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the wet towelette dispenser of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the wet towelette dispenser of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the wet towelette dispenser of thepresent invention with the front of the housing opened to allow for theinsertion or removal of a roll of pre-moistened towelettes.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the wet towelette dispenser of the presentinvention with the front of the housing opened to allow for theinsertion or removal of a roll of pre-moistened towelettes.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an axle support used in the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 is a front view of the roll tension system of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The pre-moistened towelette dispenser of the present invention isdesigned for use with towelettes pre-moistened with any type of liquidor solution including antibacterial agents, anti-fungal agents, soaps,cleaning solutions, disinfectants, chemicals and perfumes. Thetowelettes may be purchased in a pre-moistened condition by the owner ofthe dispenser or the owner may saturate dry towelettes, either before orafter they are wound onto a roll. The dispenser of the present inventionis also not directed to a particular type of towelette and may be usedwith any type or grade of towelette that may be saturated with a liquidor solution.

The pre-moistened towelette dispenser 10 of the present invention isdepicted in FIG. 1. The dispenser 10 includes a main housing 12comprised of a top 16, a left side 18, a right side 20, a back 22 and abottom 23. The back 22 of the main housing 10 is preferable providedwith holes or other conventional hardware so that the dispenser 10 maybe mounted on a vertical wall or surface.

The dispenser 10 also includes a front housing 14 comprised of a curvedfront 24, a left side 26 and a right side 28. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3,the main housing 12 is connected to the front housing 14 by a hinge 30.The hinge 30 allows the front housing 14 to be opened relative to themain housing 12.

The main housing 12 and the front housing 14 are preferably constructedof metal, but may be constructed of any material including plastic orwood. However, if any permeable or semi-permeable material is used, theinside of the housings should be treated and/or sealed to prevent themoisture inside the housing from soaking into the housing.

As can best be seen in FIG. 3, the main housing 12 includes a rubberseal 32 at the front edge of the top 16 of the housing. The fronthousing 14 includes a rubber seal 34 at the edge of the curved front 24.In the closed position, as shown in FIG. 1, the rubber seal 34 abutsagainst the rubber seal 32 to seal this portion of the dispenser 10. Thecurved front 24 also includes a foam seal 36 on the inside of the curvedfront at the edge where the curved front meets the front right side 28.An identical foam seal (not shown) is also provided on the inside of thecurved front at the edge where the curved front meets the front leftside 26. In the closed position, these seals abut against the frontcurved edges 38 of the main housing 12 to further seal the dispenser 10.Thus, in the closed position, the dispenser 10 is effectively sealed soas to retain moisture within the dispenser.

As shown in FIG. 3, the main housing 12 is provided with a lockingmechanism that includes a key receptacle 40, rotatable hook 42 and post44. With the dispenser 10 in a closed position, a key (not shown) may beinserted in the key receptacle 40 to rotate the hook 42 to grasp thepost 44. Thus, after a pre-moistened roll of towelettes is inserted inthe dispenser, the dispenser may be locked closed to prevent individualsfrom accessing the dispenser 10.

A roll of pre-moistened towelettes 46 may be inserted into the dispenseras shown in FIG. 4. The towelettes are wound about a core (not shown).The core is preferably constructed of plastic or other impermeablematerial so that the moisture from the towelettes does not soak into thecore. An axle 48 is inserted through and attached to the core. End caps50 and 51 are placed on either side of the roll. The end caps 50 and 51are preferably constructed of acrylic plastic but any impermeablematerial may be used.

The left end cap 50 is preferable attached to the core in some fashion,such as by inserting a screw or screws through the end cap 50 into thecore. The right end cap 51 may be secured in place through similarmeans, or may be held in place by a cotter pin inserted through the axle48. If a cotter pin is used to hold the end cap 51 in place, the pin maybe easily removed so that the end cap can be removed from the end of thecore for easy changing and moist towelettes on the core.

The towelette, core, axle and end caps assembly 52 may be easilyinserted into and removed from the dispenser through the use of axlesupports 54 and 55. The axle supports 54 and 55 are attached to theinterior of the left side 18 and right side 20 of the main housing 12.As shown in FIG. 5, the axle supports 54 and 55 include a slot 56 thatallows the axle 48 to slide into the supports. In this position, thetowelette, core, axle and end caps assembly 52 is held securely in placewithin the dispenser 10 but is allowed to rotate freely on the axle 48.

With the towelette, core, axle and end caps assembly 52 in place in thedispenser 10, the leading towelette 60 may be pushed through a nipple 58located in the bottom 23 of the main housing 12. The nipple 58 includesa hole or slot that allows a folded towelette to slide though thenipple. As used herein, the term “nipple” means any restricted pointopening that allows moist towelettes to pass through the opening butthat closes around the towelette as it passes through the opening. Thenipple is preferably a gasket or seal with a pinpoint hole that easilyopens and expands due to the flexibility of the material of which thegasket or seal is constructed. Alternatively, the nipple may be createdby cutting intersecting slits in a flat, flexible material so that theflexible material folds downward to provide a restricted point openingthrough which towelettes may pass.

A poker may be provided and retained within the dispenser for thepurpose of pushing the leading towelette 60 though the nipple 58. Afterthe leading towelette is pushed through the nipple 58, the toweletteextends from the bottom of the housing, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Inthis position, the leading towelette 60 may be grasped and pulled fromthe dispenser 10.

To provide the proper resistance for the pulling of a towelette from thedispenser 10, a roll tension system 62 is provided within the dispenser.As shown in FIG. 4, the roll tension system 62 is secured to the bottom23 of the main housing 12 and abuts against the left end cap 51.

As shown in FIG. 6, the roll tension system 62 includes a horizontalplate 64, a hinge 65, a vertical arm 66, a support 68, a roller 70, ascrew 72, a cap 74 and a lock nut 76. The horizontal plate 64 isattached to the bottom 23 of the main housing 12. The vertical arm 66 isattached to the horizontal plate 64 by the hinge 65 and may rotate atthe hinge relative to the horizontal plate. The roller 70 is attached tothe vertical arm 66 by the support 68. A screw 72 is inserted throughthe vertical arm 66 so that rotation of the screw causes horizontalmovement of the screw. A cap 74 is attached to the screw 72 to enableeasy rotation of the screw by hand.

As can best be seen in FIG. 4, the cap 74 may be rotated clockwise byhand to direct the screw 72 against the left side 18 of the main housing12. When the screw 72 is rotated in this fashion, the vertical arm ispushed away from the left side 18 of the main housing 12 and the roller70 is biased against the left end cap 50. Thus, resistance to therotation of the towelette, core, axle and end caps assembly 52 may beprovided by the roll tension system 62.

The orientation of the roller 70 may be adjusted at the nut 78. Theroller 70 is preferably adjusted so that it points directly at the axle48. In this position, the roller provides the smoothest resistance tothe rolling of the towelette, core, axle and end caps assembly 52.

As noted above, the resistance of the pre-moistened towelette dispensermay be freely adjusted by the owner of the dispenser through the use ofthe roll tension system. This variability allows an owner to usedifferent grades and brands of towelettes in a single dispenser.Different grades and brands of towelettes may have different perforationcharacteristics and different types of towels may be more or lessresistant to tearing when dispensed. Although a dispenser may bedesigned that accommodates a particular type and grade of towelette,this would limit the use and flexibility of the dispenser. Instead, byproviding variable and user-determined resistance, the dispenser of thepresent invention will find greater acceptance with a wider range ofproducts.

Other alterations, variations, and combinations are possible that fallwithin the scope of the present invention. Although the preferredembodiment of the present invention has been described, those skilled inthe art will recognize other modifications that may be made that wouldnonetheless fall within the scope of the present invention. Therefore,the present invention should not be limited to the apparatus and methoddescribed. Instead, the scope of the present invention should beconsistent with the invention claimed below.

1. A pre-moistened towelette dispenser comprising: a housing, thehousing being substantially sealed to retain moisture within thehousing; a roll of pre-moistened, perforated towelettes wound about acylindrical core having an axle, the axle being supported within thehousing to allow the rotation of the cylindrical core and the roll oftowelettes about the axle to dispense towelettes from the roll; a nipplelocated in the housing, the nipple providing a restricted point openingthat allows the towelettes to exit the housing.
 2. The pre-moistenedtowelette dispenser of claim 1 wherein the nipple is located in thebottom of the housing so that towelettes are dispensed from beneath thehousing.
 3. The pre-moistened towelette dispenser of claim 1 furthercomprising: an end cap attached to the cylindrical core at one end ofthe roll of towelettes, the end cap also being capable of rotation aboutthe axle; a roll tension system in contact with and biased against theend cap to provide resistance to the rotation of the end cap.
 4. Thepre-moistened towelette dispenser of claim 3 wherein the roll tensionsystem includes a roller that is in contact with and biased against theend cap to provide resistance to the rotation of the end cap.
 5. Thepre-moistened towelette dispenser of claim 3 wherein the roll tensionsystem may be adjusted to provide varying degrees of resistance to therotation of the end cap.
 6. A pre-moistened towelette dispensercomprising: a housing, the housing being substantially sealed to retainmoisture within the housing; a roll of pre-moistened, perforatedtowelettes wound about a cylindrical core having an axle, the axle beingsupported within the housing to allow the rotation of the cylindricalcore and the roll of towelettes about the axle to dispense towelettesfrom the roll; an end cap attached to the cylindrical core at one end ofthe roll of towelettes, the end cap also being capable of rotation aboutthe axle; a roll tension system in contact with and biased against theend cap to provide resistance to the rotation of the end cap therebyproviding resistance to the rotation of the roll of towelettes.
 7. Thepre-moistened towelette dispenser of claim 6 further comprising: anipple located in the housing, the nipple providing a restricted pointopening that allows the towelettes to exit the housing.
 8. Thepre-moistened towelette dispenser of claim 6 wherein the roll tensionsystem includes a roller that is in contact with and biased against theend cap to provide resistance to the rotation of the end cap.
 9. Thepre-moistened towelette dispenser of claim 6 wherein the roll tensionsystem may be adjusted to provide varying degrees of resistance to therotation of the roll of towelette.